


Goodbye and Hello

by pluto



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-05
Updated: 2012-06-05
Packaged: 2017-11-07 06:01:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 781
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/427698
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pluto/pseuds/pluto
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Shepard says an unexpected goodbye. For pkbitchgirl.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Goodbye and Hello

At the temporary Hammer base, Shepard shakes hands, pats backs, says her good lucks and goodbyes. Old friends she's known for years, raw recruits she's only just met. The new faces blur together until she finds she's only paying attention to their hands as she shakes them. Black gloves, human. Red, human. Silvery-black gloves, turian. Blue with silver trace circuitry, quarian. 

Bare, clawed fingers, krogan. 

"Not even 'hello,' Commander?"

Shepard blinks and the anonymous krogan face becomes familiar, and then more than familiar. She smiles. "Eve!" Her voice drops, softens: "Urdnot Bakara." 

Then she registers what Bakara is wearing: armor, hump to toe, lighter than most Krogan hardsuits she's seen, but still intimidating. A helmet is tucked under Bakara's arm, and her 'veil' is a balaclava-like hood on her undersuit. Shepard forces herself not to stare. 

"What the hell are you doing here? In that getup? When you're--" Shepard reaches a hand towards Bakara's midriff, before aborting the gesture. She doesn't know the first thing about Krogan pregnancies; for all she knows, they incubate children in the hump on their back or lay eggs or peel off little clones. 

Bakara's smile curves her yellow eyes. "Little Mordin is safe on Tuchunka," she says, and when Shepard's eyes widen she laughs, husky and joyful. 

"When?" Shepard asks. 

"Four days ago."

Shepard raises an eyebrow. "That was fast. No wonder the salarians were so afraid of curing the genophage," she says, but her tone is teasing, her mouth crooked with amusement. "But… Shouldn't you be back on Tuchunka with Mordin? Earth isn't much of a place for a new mother."

Bakara snorts. "Now you sound like Wrex."

"Heaven forbid." Shepard grins. 

"My daughter has many mothers to look after her, and soon she will have many brothers and sisters. They know I'm needed elsewhere." Before Shepard can express further doubts, Bakara gestures around herself. "This must have been a beautiful place, once."

Shepard's smile falters. "Yeah. It was."

"It will be again." Bakara moves closer, speaking in a soft, low rumble. "And to answer your first question: I've come to help coordinate the krogan troops. You saved my planet, and my people, Shepard. This is the least I can do." 

Shepard shakes her head. "But if you die here on Earth, who's going to talk sense into your people? They might tear themselves apart."

Bakara shrugs. "The same could be said for you, Shepard. And you aren't cowering in a command ship far away from any threat. I don't plan to die. I plan to live, and return to Tuchunka knowing my children are safe." 

Shepard crosses her arms and shakes her head. She recognizes the look in Bakara's eyes. "No way that I can talk you out of it, can I?" 

Bakara chuckles. "Wrex has already tried."

"Hey, I can do a lot of things Wrex can't do." 

"I believe you. " Shepard can see the very corners of Bakara's mouth curling. "But you can't talk me out of this, Commander, I assure you."

Shepard nods. After a moment's thought, she opens the extra ammo storage pouch strapped to her left thigh, fishes around until her fingers close on something sharp and hard. Bakara's crystal. She presents it to Bakara.

"Then you should have this back. I've been keeping it close for luck, but… you're the one who needs to walk home whole after this fight. I've got nobody waiting for me." 

Bakara's hands close over Shepard's, curling Shepard's fingers back over the crystal. Her skin is smooth and pebbled, like a warm beaded fabric, and her grip is firm and almost painful. 

" _I_ will be waiting, Shepard," Bakara says. She reaches up and pulls back her hood, showing her full face. Shepard looks a question at her, and Bakara lifts her chin slightly, yellow eyes gleaming. Challenging Shepard to accept what is offered. 

Shepard presses her closed fist over her heart and nods. She's good at making speeches to rally her crew, but at moments like these, she's never had the right words. Instead she leans in and brushes her lips against Bakara's upper jaw, just below her eye. The scales there are tiny and delicate; so soft it's like kissing silk. Bakara's powerful arms wrap around her, hold her tight, curling against her back and her hair. 

"Thank you," Shepard manages at last, barely more than a whisper. She pulls away, straightens up, tries to reassemble herself. "Look, Anderson's waiting on me, and… well… I should go." She reaches out, touches Bakara's hand. "But I'll see you soon, okay?"

"Is that a promise, Shepard?"

"Yes," Shepard says. "Definitely." 

She tightens her fist around the crystal, and hopes she's telling the truth.


End file.
